MICHAEL OWEN says tomorrow’s big clash with Blackburn Rovers at St James’s Park has evoked memories both good and bad.

The Newcastle captain has a magnificent goalscoring record, which includes eight strikes against the Ewood Park side, and bagged his first goal in a black-and-white shirt against Rovers.

But Owen has revealed the fixture will also bring back painful memories too.

Owen is only too happy to talk about netting goals against his former Liverpool team-mate Brad Friedel, but it was against Blackburn last term that the England international suffered a 2-0 defeat which ended the career of Glenn Roeder at United.

Owen told the Chronicle: “Blackburn have almost been pivotal games in my Newcastle career.

“I scored my first goal for Newcastle away at Blackburn, and Alan Shearer also scored in that game.

“But it was also the final match of Glenn Roeder’s time at Newcastle.

“I hardly played under Glenn, which was frustrating because he was a good fella and I wanted to play in his team.”

Yet while many people feel the writing was already on the wall for Roeder at Gallowgate, an Owen goal may have changed the situation.

Owen reflected on the 2-0 defeat and said: “That game was frustrating for me. I can remember rounding Brad Friedel and shooting.

“I still to this day cannot figure out how Christopher Samba cleared it off the line. It was a fantastic clearance.

“If I ever miss a chance I always wonder could I have done things better or you beat yourself up about what you could have done.

“With that chance I couldn’t do anything more with it.”

But with Yank keeper Friedel coming to Tyneside, Owen is looking forward to extending his record.

He added: “I’ve scored a few past Brad.

“I’m matey with him, but I don’t ring him up every week.

“When I see him I always have chat with him.

“He is a good guy, a good keeper, and Blackburn have a good team.

“Mark Hughes has done really well there.

“On paper, we can look at the fixtures and think we’ve got Man United out of the way, where it would have been a bonus to get a point.

“But now this is a game where we HAVE to get something.

“If we do we can look forward with more confidence – but the longer we don’t win, the harder it gets.